You are here

Implementing the Common Core: What Are We Waiting For?

Thu, 06/21/2012 - 13:05 | jaimeh

Marion Herbert, writer for District Administration magazine explains in her March article, “Are You Ready to Implement Common Core Standards?” that in a recent survey conducted by the Leadership and Learning Center, 96% of responding school leaders, by their own admission, are not preparing for Common Core Standards implementation.

The reason school leaders are procrastinating? Most commonly, they are waiting to see if the Common Core Assessments slated for 2014 will actually come to pass. How will Washington politics and the changing of the guard influence expectations of schools and CCSS implementation?Author, Douglas Reeves, states that, ‘This wait-and-see attitude is delaying districts from making some necessary changes.’ These changes reflect how teachers instruct for student learning and no matter what standards are being tested the need for quality, engaging instruction does not change. So, what are we waiting for? The time is now to increase the value of education for each student. The Common Core Practice Standards (8 Mathematical Practices and the College and Career Readiness Standards) give us a place to begin to look at our current methods of instruction and improve them so that we will have each student ready for life making “the test” incidental.